Which are the fastest-growing companies in Europe?

Growth drives investor interest in start-ups everywhere, but the same is true of established companies. So which ones are growing the fastest?

Big business deals in the billions. For example, in its Q1 earnings guidance, Samsung is predicting an operating profit of around 9.9trn won ($8.7bn).

Seven years after it was acquired by Intel for $7.6bn, McAfee is being spun out as a stand-alone business and is enjoying an early predicted valuation of $4.2bn.

Tesla made headlines last week after its valuation of $48.2bn was revealed to be greater than that of Ford ($45bn), despite the latter proving to be historically profitable and the former being a gambler of sorts.

However, that’s at the top end, and Samsung’s mega-profit represents little when compared to its overall revenues – 50trn won ($44bn).

Growth, at the top end, is marginal. This is why so few mainstream, household-name companies are represented in the top 25 companies in Europe, in terms of growth rate.

Last week, the Financial Times teamed up with Statista for the FT1000, with the cream of the crop featured in this infographic.

The list comprises companies from 24 European countries, led by Germany and the UK, which are represented most prominently (23.6pc and 23.5pc respectively), followed by Italy (18.6pc), France (13.9pc) and Spain (10.2pc).

One of the more interesting businesses on the list is iZettle, which appeared in a Siliconrepublic.com ‘Future of Banking’ feature last year.